CHARLESTON, S.C.– Ledarrius Brewer dropped in a season-high 24 points as Southeast Missouri (5-6) fell to The Citadel (8-2), 86-74, Saturday afternoon at McAlister Field House.
 
Brewer shot 9-of-14 from the field, buried a season-best five 3-pointers, grabbed three rebounds, dished out two assists and had two blocks in his second 20-point effort this season.
 
Today marked the first-ever meeting between SEMO and The Citadel
 
Tied, 17-17, in the first half, The Citadel went on a 13-2 run to build a double-digit lead. SEMO missed 7-of-8 field goals and turned the ball over three times during that stretch.
 
Kaiden Rice buried a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions to ignite the surge that ended with Quayson Williams' layup that put the Bulldogs ahead, 30-19, with a little over six minutes remaining.
 
SEMO closed out the half strong with a 12-5 jaunt of its own. Brewer, after at one time missing six shots in a row, scored nine of his 12 first-half points in the final 3:28 of the opening stanza to help cut The Citadel's lead to 41-35 at the intermission.
 
The Bulldogs, with the help of nine SEMO fouls, outscored the Redhawks 10-2 at the free throw line in the game's opening 20 minutes.
 
SEMO trailed by 14 early in the second half, but pulled to within three after Nygal Russell chased down a offensive rebound and nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner. Gabe McGlothan's jumper then sliced The Citadel's lead to 51-50 at the 13:52 mark.
 
Isaiah Gable's 3-pointer, which would have given SEMO the lead, missed and the Bulldogs countered with seven-straight points to pull ahead 58-50.
 
Skyler Hogan later splashed in a 3-pointer to chop The Citadel's lead to 63-60, but that was as close as SEMO would get.
 
A 14-3 run led to The Citadel grabbing its biggest lead, 79-63, with 3:54 left before the Bulldogs locked down their sixth-straight win.
 
SEMO shot 43.9 percent (29-of-66) from the field and 50 percent (15-of-30) in the second half alone.
 
Freshman Alex Caldwell added 14 points in the return to his home state. A native of Columbia, South Carolina, Caldwell made 6-of-10 field goals, two 3-pointers and dished out three assists in 24 minutes off the bench. Half of his points came in his first six minutes of play. 
 
Rice led five Bulldogs in double figures with 19 points. Frierson followed with 18 points, Lew Stallworth had 14, Zane Najdawi finished 13 and Kern Connor tallied 10.
 
The Citadel scored 27 points off turnovers and outscored SEMO, 20-4, at the free throw line.
 
SEMO travels to #10 Florida State Monday.